2023 – The rise of environmental criminal law

For several years now, Vouland Avocats has established itself as a key player in environmental criminal litigation. Case after case, its lawyers have developed in-depth expertise in managing the legal risks associated with industrial activities, waste and environmental regulations. Combining technical defence and procedural strategy, they assist companies and their executives facing environmental prosecutions.

Illegal landfill at Le Castellet: a thirty-year legal battle

One of the firm’s most emblematic cases centred on a vast illegal landfill in the Var. At Le Castellet, in the heart of the Bandol AOC vineyards, a million tonnes of construction waste had built up over more than thirty years. An environmental association was denouncing soil pollution and the inaction of the authorities.

The case took a judicial turn when four people were arrested, including the landowner and the managers of the companies operating on the plots. Among them was the head of a metal recycling company, prosecuted for seven offences. The case promised to be complex: irregular operation, lack of authorisation, endangering the environment.

Tom Bonnifay took on his defence with a surgical approach. Offence by offence, he dismantled the charges against his client point by point. The strategy? To show that if any fault had been committed, it was more of an administrative irregularity than a serious criminal offence. At the end of the proceedings, the argument paid off: the client obtained a dismissal of the case and all the seizures made on his accounts were lifted.

The “swimming pool king” and the battle of the experts

A few months later, a new case took him onto another minefield: the swimming pool industry. The head of a sector giant, France’s number two manufacturer of polyester shell pools, was prosecuted for three environmental offences. At the heart of the case: the management of waste from pool manufacturing, disputed recovery practices and fly-tipping.

Here again, the findings of the authorities – in this case the DREAL (regional environmental authority) – were decisive. But an administrative report is not absolute truth. Tom Bonnifay, assisted by his trainee lawyer Eléonore Varale, methodically challenged the conclusions of the administration’s experts. The defence relied on counter-expert reports, a close reading of the applicable standards and a demonstration that the prosecution had misinterpreted the regulatory framework.

The result? Acquitted. The company and its director escaped the heavy penalties that threatened their business.

Stronger expertise, a recognised firm

These cases strengthened Vouland Avocats’ position in the criminal defence of companies facing environmental prosecutions. Tom Bonnifay went even further, consolidating his expertise with the prestigious university diploma (DU) in environmental law from the University of Grenoble.

Today, the firm assists both companies facing prosecution and those that are victims of pollution or environmental damage, extending its scope to civil party litigation. Its approach? A technical, pragmatic defence grounded in the industrial reality of each case.

In 2024, this expertise was recognised with a major distinction: Vouland Avocats was named best environmental criminal law firm in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.

Other key cases are ongoing, confirming that the firm’s line of defence remains the same: to offer companies and executives a solid bulwark against the increasingly demanding challenges of environmental criminal law.